Three rooms of pensioner's home flooded by leak from his catheter

A handyman who went to fix a leak in a frail pensioner’s home found the liquid was coming from the man’s catheter.

Jason Ashton had been called to the 93-year-old man’s house when the leak spread through several rooms of the house.

Mr Ashton was on call for home emergency repair firm First Call Home Assist last month when he received a call after midnight about a flooding incident.

The elderly man was so concerned he had initially dialled 999 to call police about the problem, who passed on the issue to First Call Home Assist who manage the property out of hours.

The pensioner said the leak was running through the hall, kitchen and bedroom of his house, in the Peffermill area of the city.

Mr Ashton has been praised for staying to fix the catheter and making sure the man and his house were clean. His bosses say he is "Scotland's kindest-hearted tradesman".

The handyman, from Mayfield in Midlothian, said: "Once I realised there wasn't a water leak, there was no way I was going to walk out the house leave the man in that state.

"I suppose I'm maybe of the 'old school' who always wants to do the right thing to help out people when they are in a bit of distress. I'm also always had a soft spot when it comes to helping out old people.

"In many ways I was glad to be able to solve the problem so quickly as a real leak could have been much more distressing for an old man."

Jason has worked with First Call Home Assist for five years, and said while he's had to deal with numerous household problems, this one was by far the strangest.

Paul Greaves, managing director of the company, said: "I think there are plenty of tradesmen who would have quickly done an about-turn when they discovered what the problem was and said this was not a job for them."

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